Conjunto Bernal "MI UNICO CAMINO" 1. Ml UNICO CAM! 0 (DAR) (Ranchera)

(1637A, 2447-A, LP103) (12/1958) 2. ETO'S POLKA (Paulino Bernal) (Polka)

(LP160) 3. LAS PALABRAS DEL AMOR (DAR)

(Bolero) (1415-B, LP170) (11/1956) 4. LORETTA POLKA (Paulino Bernal)

(Polka) (LP160) 5. SERA IMPOSIBLE (Adam Perez)

(Ranchera) (1298-B, LP133) (12 / 1955) 6. Ml BORRACHERA Uo eA. Morante)

(Ranchera) (1255-A, LP133) (1955) 7. BALLROOM POLKA (Paulino Bernal)

(LP141) 8. DESTI 0 CRUEL (Eloy Bernal)

(Ranchera) (6/1959) (1696-A, LP103) 9. AL Fl MUjER (DAR) (Ranchera)

(LP160) 10. PA ' QUE ME HAGO ILUSIO ES

(Manuel E. Gonzalez) (Ranchera) (1653-A, LP133) (Early 1959)

11 .51 ACASO VUELVES (Valerio Longoria) (Ranchera) (1248-B, LP133) (1955)

12. HOY 0 ES AYER (Tony De La Rosa) (Polka) (LP141)

13. DESPRECIO (Paulino Bernal) (Bolero) (1167-B) (3/1955)

14. MUjER PASEADA (Daniel Garces) (Ranchera) (1167-A) (3/1955)

15. FIDEL CASTRO (Paulino Bernal) (Polka) (1689-A, LP103) (8/1959)

16. MELODIAS MEXICA AS (P. & E. Bernal) (Potpourri) (1689-B, LP103) (8/1959)

17. QUIE TE LO DljO (Tomas Mendez) (Ranchera) (1466-A, LP103) (4/1957)

18. AZUL CIELO (Miguel Martinez) (Shotis) (1311-A) (3/1956)

19. CAM ! ITO DE RIELES (Chucho Mendoza-jose L. Morales) (Ranchera) (1470-A, LP103) (4/1957)

20. ON IE (Paulino Bernal) (Polka) (LP160) 21. MARIA BONITA (A. Lara) (Polka)

(LP160) 22. AL REGRESAR (Paulino Bernal) (Bolero)

(Voca l: Ruben & Paulino) (1518-B) (Late 1957)

23. SE TIM IE TOY RE COR (Eloy Bernal) (Ranchera) (1614-B, LP133) (10/ 195 )

24. LA CHUPARRASA (B. ollazo) (Polka) (1321-A) (2/1956)

Paulino Bernal - vocals & accordion; Eloy Bernal - vocals & bajo ex to; Ruben Perez ­fir t voice on trio selection and several duets; plus bass and drums.

Recorded in Alice, Texas by Armando Marroquin for IDEAL Records between 1954 and 1960. Re-issue produced by Chris Strachwitz for ArhooliE' Productions by contractua l agreement with Paulino Bernal.

over by Wayne Pope

©and P 1992 by Arhoolie Produc tions. Inc.

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Paulino Bernal - vocals & accordion; Eloy Bernal- vocals & bajo sex to; Ruben Perez- first voice on trio selections and several duets; plus bass and drums.

umbers in parenthesis refer to original Ideal catalog number on 78, 45, or LP release. Date in parenthesis refers to the approximate date of the original recording session.

Recorded in Alice, Texas by Armando Marroquin for IDEAL Records between 1954and 1960. Re-issue produced by Chris Strachwitz for Arhoolie Productions by contractual agreement with Paulino Bernal. Cover by Wayne Pope.

OTHER RELEASES IN OUR TEJANO ROOTS SERIES: CD/C 341 Tejano Roots/Raices Tejanas featuring 24 selections by CON) UNTO BERNAL,

ISIDRO LOPEZ, BETO VILLA, ARCISO MARTINEZ, CHELO SILVA, FREDDIE FENDER, TONY DE LE ROSA, LYDIA ME OOZA, JUAN LOPEZ, CARME Y LAURA, VALERIO LO GO RIA, WALLY ALME DAREZ, and others. CD includes 24-page booklet with lyrics, history and photos.

CD/C 342 Con junto Accordion Champs CD/C 343 Tejano Roots: Tlze Women featuring 22 selections by CHELO SILVA, CARME

Y LAURA, LYDIA ME OOZA, HERMAN AS GUERRERO, LAS ABA)E AS, ROSITA FERNANDEZ, HERMAN AS SEGOVIA, DELIA Y LAURA, HERMAN AS ME OOZA, HERMAN AS CA TU, and others. CD includes 28-page booklet with lyrics, history and photos.

CD/C 344 Con junto Bernal: "Mi Unico Camino" 24 Original Hits. CD/C 363 Isidro Lopez: "Ellndio" 24 Original Hits. CD/C 364 Beto Villa: 24 Original Hits by the first Tejano orquesta. CD/C 366 Freddie Fender: 24 Original Hits. CD/C 367 Corridos de La Frontera CD/C 368 Orquestas Tejanas: "The Formative Years"

OTHER TEJANO &. CONJUNTO RELEASES: CD/C 311 Los Pinguinos Del Norte & Fred Zimmerle's Con junto Trio San Antonio

"Conjuntos ortenos" CD/C 317 Santiago Jimenez, Jr.: "El Mero, Mero De San Antonio" CD/C 318 Flaco Jimenez: "Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio y Mas" CD/C 319 Esteban "Steve" Jordan: "The Many Sounds of Steve jordan" CD/C 336 Valerio Longoria y su Con junto: "Caballo Viejo" CD/ C 3027 Flaco Jimenez: "Fiaco's Amigos" (with Ry Cooder, Peter Rowan, etc.) CD/C 7002 Lydia Mendoza: "Mal Hombre" and other Original Hits from the 1930s.

El Conjunto Bernal: "One of a Kind"

Texas-Mexicans have always been prolific music makers. They have been the music trendsetters among Mexicans in the Southwest through­out most of the 20th century. In fact, beginning in the 1930s, the Texas­Mexicans created the two most powerful regional styles ever to emerge among Mexicans anywhere - orquesta (note Arhoolie CD/ C 368 Orquestas Tejanas: The Formative Years), and conjunto (note Arhoolie CD/ C 341 Tejano Roots and CD/ C 342 Con junto Accordion Champs).

The best of theconjuntos is, beyond a d oubt, El Conjunto Bernal. Described by connoisseurs of conjunto music as "the only one of its kind" and "twenty years ahead of its time," El Con junto Bernal is well-known for its tremendous range of innovation. Its musical experiments spanned the gamut ofconju n to, from the traditional polka to Latinmusicsuchas the bolero, cha cha elm, and even American rock and roll. El Conjunto Bernal owed much of its originality and meteoric

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rise to fame to the genius of its founder, Paulino Bernal.

Paulino Bernal was born June 22, 1939, in Raymondville, deep in South Texas. Reared in the grinding poverty that visited most of the Texas­Mexicans of his generation, Paulino was forced to quit school when he was in the seventh grade. An accomplished accordionist by that time, he left school he says "to try and earn money and get us out of the poverty in which we found ourselves."

Bernal's mother was a divorcee, and early on she moved to Kingsville, where Paulino, his older brother Eloy, the younger Luis, and three sisters w ere all forced to pick cotton, cucumbers, and other crops to help support the family. One day, a man came by the house selling a guitar, and Mrs. Bernal "with great sacrifice," bought it for the boys. Paulino soon learned enough to play in the cantinas with an elderly accordionist, where he picked up tips to help buy food for

j

j

the Bernal family. But Paulino's future lay with the

accordion. He remembers hearing the best accordionists of the late 40s and early 50s on the radio - Narciso Martinez, Valerio Longoria, Tony de Ia Rosa-all of whom were recording for the largest Texas-Mexican company at the time, Ideal Records. Paulino dreamed of joining their ranks, and when a friend of his was given an accordion as a gift, it was Paulino who spent the most time practicing on it. Shortly afterward, on a trip to visit their father in the Rio Grande Valley, Eloy was given a bajo sexto by his father, and the Bernals were soon on track toward their future.

Los Hermanitos Bernal launched their musical career in 1952. They were hired to play a dance in nearby Premont - Paulino on accordion, Eloy on bajo sexto, and a friend, Adan Lomas, on drums. According to Bernal, "a lot of people attended, and they liked the Bernal Brothers so much, they kept calling us back." They began playing in nearby Fulfurrias

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and in Alice, the home of the powerful Ideal Records . Soon the Bernal Brothers came to the attention of Armando Marroquin, the man who recorded all the artists for Ideal Records.

The Bernal Brothers were first recorded as the backup conjunto for some ofthe duets then popular among Texas-Mexicans, such as Carmen y Laura (note CD 343 Tej ano Roots: The Women). In March 1955, Marroquin gave the Bernals their chance as headliners, and a 78 rpm record was released with the canci6n ranchera ("country song" ) Mujer Paseada ("Travelled Woman") on one side and the romantic bolero Desprecio on the other. With the release of their first record, the Bernal Brothers quickly put their cotton picking days behind them forever and soon joined Valerio Longoria and Tony de la Rosa as the top conjuntos in the state of Texas.

El Conjunto Bernal recorded prolifically for Ideal between 1955 and 1960 and some of the best sides, including the monster hits: Mi Unico Camino and Sentimiento Y Rencor,

both from late 1958, are on this CD and cassette.

Marroquin began taking them on tours throughout the Southwest and beyond where they always played for packed houses. They were especially popular in Arizona where local band leader Pedro Bugarin was fond of featuring them with his orquesta. In fact, according to Paulino, he and Eloy used to sit in with Bugarin's band, and some of the band musicians would in turn sit in with El Con junto Bernal. This exposure to band music inspired Paulino to branch out of the normally simple ranchero music of theconjunto into the more sophisticated style of the orquesta.

When Armando Marroquin ended his relationship with Ideal Records around 1960, El Conjunto Bernal stayed with him and recorded for his new label, Nopal Records. Shortly however, El Con junto Bernal relocated to McAllen, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, across the border from Mexico. Bernal began working with Victor Gonzalez and the two

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men founded Bego Records (the company name a combination of their two last names). The Bego years rep­resent some of Conjun to Bernal's most innovative work. It was at this time that Paulino attracted the most tal­ented musicians in the conjunto tradi­tion to his group.

In the late 1960s Gonzalez bought out Paulino's interest in Be go Records and Paulino went on to found Bernal Records, which also produced many outstanding hits by El Conjunto Bernal. By this time however, Paulino had given up performing in favor of the administrative aspects of show business. He ran the recording company, hosted a regional TV music show, and generally concentrated on the promotional aspects of the business. Meanwhile Oscar Hernandez and other very able accordionists picked up the slack and carried on the tradition of excellence begun by Paulino. During this same time, success in the music field took its toll on Paulino and he succumbed to the allure of alcohol and drugs.

In 1972, however, a cook Paulino

had hired to work in a restaurant he owned changed his life by converting him to the teachings of born-again Christianity. From that day on, Paulino gave up the life of alcohol and drugs to devote himself to preaching. He also resumed his career as accordionist, only this time he did so in the service of Christianity. He started a new recording company, Bernal Christian Records, under whose banner he has continued to develop his inimitable style. As he once commented in an interview, "People who knew me before lament that I'm not playing anymore. They don' t seem to realize that I play more now than I ever did before!"

In every major musical tradition, there are individuals and groups which distinguish themselves as leaders with their talent and innovative genius. El Con junto Bernal is clearly one of these in the nortei'io m usic tradition and Arhoolie P roductions feels distinct! y p rivileged to offer this CD / C. Featured here is the best of El Conjunto Bernal from its formative

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years at Ideal Records. The group came of aged uring the glorious years with Ideal establishing itself as the greatest in the conjunto tradition. We believe that upon listening to this CD I C, those who appreciate nortefio music will agree that El Conjunto Bernal was indeed "one of a kind." (Chris Strachwitz and Manuel Pefia-1992)

For our illustrated catalog listing hundreds of COs, Cassettes, LPs, Videos, etc. of Blues, Cajun, Zydeco, Tex-Mex, Jazz, Country, and other regional and world musics send $2.00 for postage to: ARHOOLIE CATALOG, 10341 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530

Conjunto Bernal "Mi Unico Camino"

Over 60 Minutes of Historic TEJANO MUSIC 1. MI U ICO CAMINO (Ranch era) 2. ETO'S POLKA (Polka) 3. LAS PALABRAS DEL AMOR (Bolero) 4. LORETI A POLKA (Polka) 5. SERA IMPOSIBLE (Ranchera) 6. MI BORRACHERA (Ranchera) 7. BALLROOM POLKA 8. DESTI 0 CRUEL (Ranchera) 9. AL FIN MUJER (Ranchera)

10. PA' QUE ME HAGO ILUSIO ES (Ranchera)

11. SI ACASO VUEL YES (Ranchera) 12. HOY NOES A YER (Polka) 13. DESPRECIO (Bolero) 14. MU)ER PASEADA (Ranchera) 15. FIDEL CASTRO (Polka) 16. MELODIAS MEXICA AS (Potpourri) 17. QUIE TE LO DIJO (Ranchera) 18. AZUL CIELO (Shotis) 19. CAMI ITO DE RIELES (Ranchera) 20. CO NIE (Polka) 21. MARIA BONITA (Polka) 22. AL REGRESAR (Bolero) 23. SE TIMIE TOY RE COR (Ranchera) 24. LA CHUP ARRASA (Polka) 0

Paulino Bernal - vocals & accordion; Eloy Bernal­vocals & bajo sexto; Ruben Perez- first voice on trio selections and several duets; plus bass and drums.

Recorded in Alice, Texas by Armando Marroquin for IDEAL Records between 1954 and 1960. Re-issue produced by Chris Strachwitz for Arhoolie Productions by contractual agreement with Paulino Bernal.

A ccordionist/singer Paulino Bernal is one of the true superstars of Conjunto music. With

his brother Eloy on bnjo sex to and the addition of Ruben Perez as a third voice, Conjunto Bernal broke the traditional barriers of this Texas dance music by introducing three-part vocal harmonies, a sound widely popular among middle class Mexicans, and incorporating an orquesln sound into their arrangements. Here are 24 original hits recorded in the 1950s with p lenty of polkas showing off Paulino' superb accordion.

© & p 1992 by Arhoolie Productions, Inc.

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